Faces and Facets
by dogbertcarroll
Summary: YAHF done in my own hair-brained style. Xander's costume choice is inspired... by a committee.
1. Chapter 1

**Faces and Facets**

**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I own no intellectual property that anyone would want and what I do own probably can be used as evidence that I need to be medicated. **

**Cue standard Halloween beginning, Buffy forgetting Xander in mid 'make up scene' to go coo over a dress that she thinks will attract Angel's attention in three… two… one…**

Xander sighed. Once again he was interrupted in what should have been a meaningful conversation by Angel, and the damn vampire wasn't even here! He took a look at the discount bin just in time to see a kid grab the last gun. 'Well so much for going as a soldier.'

"Can I help you?" came the oily voice of Ethan Rayne, startling Xander, who spun around and almost ended up falling on his ass.

"Don't do that, I almost had a heart attack!" Xander said.

"Sorry, my dear boy, I was just checking to see if you needed any help," Ethan said with a glint of amusement.

"Well, now that we know my ticker is fine, I guess I can use a little help pulling a costume together."

"What can I do to help?" Ethan asked.

Xander's eyes widened as Ethan's British accent gave him an idea. "A dirty trench coat, short blond wig for a male, a pack of Silk Cut cigarettes, and some make up that can make it look like I haven't shaved in a day or two."

Ethan blinked and mentally went through the inventory in his head while collecting the requested items. He frowned and pulled out a rumpled, half empty pack of cigarettes from his pocket. "I'm afraid I smoked about half of them. I don't normally carry cigs as part of a costume."

"That's perfect." Xander grinned.

***A neutral plane***

"**NO!**" resonated a powerful voice.

"I quite agree," a voice like the buzzing of insects joined in. "Fun is fun, but letting HIM loose on a Hellmouth is not the brightest of ideas."

"Free will is free will," a voice with the accent of a Brooklyn native reminded them.

A pair of voices, male and female, spoke as one, "a simple time fold and a few items removed would take care of the problem without affecting his will. He will have to choose, whether to buy the rest of the items elsewhere or simply choose a different costume, but it will still be his choice."

"And what's the problem with him dressing as Constantine, if I may ask?" the Brooklyn accented voice asked respectfully.

"**Observe**," the powerful voice requested/commanded.

***Flash***

"You're not Ripper," the chaos mage accused.

"Yeah, I noticed that. I don't carry a knife for cutting up poor honest working girls and I don't come from the Eighteenth Century. Not far off White Chapel though," the initial voice said thoughtfully ads he blew a cloud of smoke in Ethan's face.

Ethan waved the smoke off and looked away. "What are you here for?"

"Well I thought I might stop by and offer you a deal."

"What kind of a deal?" Ethan said while inching towards the counter, where he'd had the foresight to stash a sawn off shotgun.

Ethan dashed for the counter just as the trench coated figure blew a mouthful of smoke, saying "Signus, hexes, levit."

Ethan didn't make it two feet before he found himself hanging in midair from a noose formed of smoke that his fingers passed through to no effect.

"The kind of deal where you agree or you die," he replied looking behind the counter and finding the shotgun. "The more you struggle the quicker the end."

Ethan stopped struggling, realizing it was useless and waited for the 'deal' hoping it was one he could like through.

Prying open a couple of shotgun shells, the trench coated figure cut his finger and added a drop of blood to each one before sealing them back up, maddeningly slowly to Ethan, who was trying not to black out from oxygen deprivation. After casually loading the shotgun he snapped it closed and put his cigarette out on the counter, dissipating the noose that was holding Ethan up.

Ethan hit the ground hard and gasped for breath.

"So do you want to deal?" the man asked casually.

"Yes! Yes! Bloody hell yes!" Ethan gasped out.

"How do I break the spell?" the man asked, as the click of a safety switch being flicked off echoed loudly in the room despite the sounds of screams and roars from outside.

"Statue in the back room, a bust of Janus, break it! Whoever you are!"

The man nodded and swept aside the curtain to the backroom easily spotting the bust with the glowing eyes and aiming the shotgun at it with one hand. "The name's Constantine, John Constantine," he said, just before pulling the trigger.

Giles found Ethan passed out in a pool of his own piss and the lingering smell of cigarette smoke when he arrived a couple of minutes later.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Spike lay there, blood dripping off his torso from countless cuts. He wasn't sure he could hold out for much longer. He'd done his best, but a man had limits and he just about reached his.

Drusilla leaned down and sank her fangs into Spike's shoulder as they finished what they'd started about five hours ago.

Spike completely forgot Buffy and indeed Slayers existing for about three months and by the time he did remember, he decided it was too much trouble to bother with when he could be spending that time with Dru.

***Flash***

"That doesn't seem so bad," Brooklyn said.

***Flash***

And if you put a drop of blood there and will them closed…" Xander said pretending Dawn was just curious and not taking notes behind him, as he explained the large design inscribed in the ground. "Of course if you wanted to protect yourself from something like a hell goddess you'd want to seal off the powers above as well as below," Xander said thoughtfully lighting a cig and getting exactly two drags before Dawn snatched it from his mouth and stamped the hell out of it. "As I was saying," he continued as if nothing had happened. "To seal off the powers above and below you put a drop of blood in the center of the pattern."

"Wouldn't sealing off the powers above be bad?" Dawn asked.

"The let the powers below do what they wish, while being strictly hands off themselves, so really except for lacking prophecies telling girls to rush off and get killed we'd be about the same," Xander said thoughtfully.

Dawn's eyes narrowed as she rechecked her notes. Buffy rushing off to get killed was still a sore spot for her.

***Flash***

"OK, that is bad. Well, even with a time fold we can only change it once, so I'd suggest someone try and set him to dress as a normal human. A detective of some kind would be good, a little more in the grey matter could make him more useful to us," the Brooklyn accented voice wheedled, wondering if he could get away with Batman or Sherlock Holmes. The kid had given Angel the kick in the ass needed and he owed him for that, besides the kid was a snappy dresser.

"**AGREED**," all the voices chorused.

"But not Sherlock Holmes," the powerful voice resonated.

"Or Batman," the buzzing added.

"We have no preference," the male and female voices chorused.

"I'll find someone useful," Brooklyn said cheerfully before going about his task.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"How about this one?" Ethan asked, showing Xander a dirty ragged trench coat with a while full face mask.

"I don't recognize it," Xander replied wondering why he was dying for a cigarette.

Placing the mask on the counter Ethan rested his hand on it for a moment, before lifting if off to show what looked to be moving ink blots.

"Magic," Xander half asked half stated.

Ethan shook his head. "Heat sensitive material, so it matches the changing patterns of the hero's mask."

Xander looked at him and raised an eyebrow just waiting.

Ethan finally sighed. "Ok, a minor glamour, cause the material needed to make the mask do that, costs a pretty penny and isn't nearly as impressive."

Xander grinned. "Cool. Wait a minute; I think I know this guy, limited series based partly on DC characters… Rorschach!"

Ethan grinned. "Yep. A master detective with a bit of a dark streak, not afraid to get his hands dirty and will not compromise, even in the face of Armageddon. Harm the innocent and your number is up, no excuses, no escape, no mercy."

"How much?" Xander said, as enthralled with the white mask and dirty trench coat as Buffy had been with the poufy dress.

Ethan glanced around to make sure no one was watching. "The most expensive part of the costume was the coat and I picked it out of Goodwill for three bucks. Let's say ten total, but you'll need to get your own boots to go with it. I couldn't find anything for less than thirty that'd fit. Boots are always the most expensive bit."

"I got a pair that would be perfect," Xander said. "Steel toed motorcycle boots from when my Uncle Rory thought he was going to be a stuntman before he found out you needed training and had to be sober."  
"Really?" Ethan asked curiously, as he'd always thought stuntmen were just whoever you could get drunk enough to let you blow them up.

"Yeah," Xander nodded. "He decked himself out with an outfit that had everything reinforced with Kevlar he could, also fireproofed and warm enough for the Arctic. I think he got superhero mixed up with stuntman."

"You're kidding?"

"I wish. He gave the entire kit and caboodle to me. Said I'd grow into it. It's been four years and the only thing that fits so far is the boots!"

"Sounds like it's the perfect thing to round out Rorschach's outfit. Just add some padding and it'll make the character a little more believable. I mean, he took a heck of a beating before going down, enough that some personal body armor would fit," Ethan suggested deciding to give the kid a shot at surviving the night.

"It'll also make me look a lot more buff," Xander said beginning to grin.

"That's the spirit," Ethan encouraged him.

"I don't suppose you've got any odds and ends for demonic defense that'd work with my costume. I know Halloween is supposed to be dead, but this is Sunnydale."

Ethan nodded, smiling at the thought of the amount of chaos a Rorschach aware of demons would cause. "I've got some small items and some fakes too, so the real ones don't draw attention."

**OMAKE**

Dru sent Xander a thank you note, for the conversation she and Constantine would have had about putting the magic back in her sex life, if she hadn't convinced Spike to stay in.

Convince, tie down, potato, pottato.

Xander thought it was a very nice touch for Dru to do so and sent her a spell that would awaken the souls of their cursed line without turning them into complete wankers. The gypsies had been a bit more subtle when cursing the line, read subtle as ineffective. The souls were connected to the vamps of the line, but ineffective in controlling the demon, with the spell Xander sent her they'd be about equal in power, meaning less mindless killers and more picky predators, hopefully without creating too many Lestats, one overly whiny vamp was enough!

**Typing by: Last Primarch!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Faces and Facets**

**Chapter 2**

Xander was pleasantly surprised to find that while his uncle's outfit didn't fit at all last year, this year it wasn't that far off. He hadn't needed too much padding either though he did have to roll up the pant legs and sleeves a bit. He examined himself in the mirror, thinking that the armor his drunken uncle had gotten ahold of or had made was almost a costume by itself. It looked like something Batman would wear while trying to work incognito. Putting on the mask, fedora and ragged trench coat that completed the costume he began to grin, watching the mirrored ink blot looking dark patches on his mask move.

He almost hit himself in the head as he remembered the extras he'd forgotten and gathered the bag from the bed.

A rosary with piano wire stringing the beads together on his belt, a small book of quick and dirty spells just barely sticking out of his pocket, the grappling hook gun went on his belt, along with a couple of stakes, a fake athame, and a plastic sawed off shotgun with runes painted on the barrel was stuck inside the trench coat's inner pocket. He slipped an extra cross, some holy water and a pocket knife in his other pocket and he was all set.

He glanced at himself one last time in the mirror and found he looked taller now that he was all geared up, unaware that the outfit forced him to drop his slouch and pulled back his shoulders.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Joyce's eyes widened and she involuntarily stepped back as she opened the door and saw the masked figure standing there. "Who…" her voice trailed off as the black splotches on the mask seemed to skitter like ants into a new configuration.

"Trick…or treat," the voice growled out roughly, but in a friendly tone.

Joyce's eyes almost comically widened as she realized who it was. "Xander?" she said incredulously, taking in his new form. Between the boots and his posture he seemed a lot taller and the slight padding he wore filled him out a bit, giving Joyce a preview of what Xander would soon develop into. Feeling a bit embarrassed at her own reaction to him she decided to tease him a little. "Well candy is dandy, but a trick would be a treat," she purred out.

Rather than backing off as she expected he stepped in close, the mask giving him a bit of courage. "A night in might be nice, and unless asked I do not bite," Xander replied in the low raspy growl he used for Rorschach's voice.

Rising to the challenge she grabbed his hands and molded herself against him. "Oh granny, what great big…" she paused and smirked before continuing. "…Teeth you have."

Xander having had his manhood challenged once today refused to back down. "All the better to…" he paused and grinned wickedly beneath the mask, "eat you with my dear," he growled advancing on her until she was the one pressed up against the wall.

"Hey you! Who are you and what are you doing with my mom?!" Buffy yelled from the head of the stairs, really wishing she had at least a stake on her so she could throw it, as doing anything in the puffy gown was problematic.

Joyce bit back a groan and muttered quietly, "And she calls me a buzz kill," as the two quickly separated.

Xander was waiting for his pulse to reach something approaching normal before speaking and between Joyce flirting and being so close to him and Buffy startling him… it was going to be a while.

Willow and Dawn quickly made their own appearance following Buffy's yell. Willow hadn't had time to put on her ghost costume, so she was dressed in what Buffy considered hot and most guys at school would have added kinda slutty. Dawn's costume showed she was an avid Xmen fan as she had a silver sword and half a suit of armor over a yellow and black New Mutants outfit, along with long blonde hair.

Joyce decided to play things off and waved at Xander, "Guess who."

At the looks of confusion Dawn rolled her eyes. "It's Xander," she announced, wondering why they couldn't see it.

"Too tall," Willow said authoritatively.

"Too buff," Buffy added.

Xander crossed his arms over his chest and Joyce would bet money he was glaring behind the mask.

"Cool," Dawn said as she watched the face of his mask shift from one pattern to the next.

"Thermal sensitive material," Xander quickly growled out, not wanting to break character, but not wanting to get broken by Buffy either.

"Wow, I didn't know they had stuff that worked so well yet!" Willow babbled excitedly. "I mean most of the stuff I read about was simple green to blue depending on heat!"

I need my bag," Dawn said. "Be right back!"

Buffy took the opportunity to 'encourage' Willow down the stairs and Willow was so shocked at how Xander looked in his costume that she completely forgot about her own. That accomplished, Buffy ducked back into her room to grab a couple of things so she wouldn't feel so naked in just the fifteen layers of dress. Willow walked down the stairs in a daze. Anyone who knew the least little bit about girls could tell she was about ten seconds from exploding hormonally and scaring Xander off. Xander of course missed the whole thing.

Joyce sighed and decided to give Willow a hand. "That outfit is way too revealing. I wouldn't let Buffy out in it and I can't let you either," she said taking her by the arm and dragging the unwilling girl back upstairs. "I don't think clashes too much with your hair anyway. I think you'll look much better in my LBD with some color appropriate makeup and a microphone."

"Why a microphone?" Xander heard Willow ask as Joyce pulled her into the bedroom.

Xander adjusted his outfit again and wished it was a bit colder outside. Sure black leather with Kevlar looked cool as hell and would stop bullets, probably, but it retained heat like crazy, wearing a dirty grey trench coat over it probably didn't help either.

He was startled out of his thoughts by a blonde haired Dawn guiding him to the couch and climbing into his lap. Everyone knew Dawn had a crush on him, but Xander never teased her about it or even admitted he knew. Joyce had once muttered something about an Electra complex but all Xander knew was that Dawn required a lot of huggage and that his approval meant the world to her. Not that it was all one way of course. In the rare instances when he was in a bad mood or feeling down, Dawn's smile could almost always bring him out of his funk and if her smile didn't work her koala bear impression always wore him down, which consisted of her jumping on him and wrapping her arms and legs around him and refusing to let go.

He'd once admitted to Buffy that he imagined it was like having a little sister. Buffy had gone on a ten minute rant in which the words 'butt pain' featured prominently. Xander told her that he was revoking her older sister license and from then on he took Dawn's side against Buffy on all subjects. Willow would take Buffy's side to even things up and the arguments would get so silly that the winner would be the pair that could keep a straight face the longest while making wild claims; like having invented cheese or discovered a talking mouse population that had moved here from France and claiming they didn't count as intelligent because they can only speak French and still thought mimes were a good idea.

"What do you think of my costume?" Dawn asked.

"Brilliant!" Xander immediately answered. "I mean going as Magik is cool, she's a good character, but the addition of the armor and sword made all the difference."

"How about the hair?" Dawn asked nervously.

"You look much cuter with your own hair, but then people would think you were Shadow Cat using her link to call up the soul sword and armor. You make a good Illiyana Rasputin, but it just so happens that I prefer Dawn Summers," Xander said.

Dawn beamed and decided not to bleach her hair blonde. Sure Xander had a crush on Buffy and Buffy bleached her hair, but Xander said he liked Dawn the way she was and didn't he spend most of his time with Dawn when he was here? Feeling glad to be herself, Dawn chatted with Xander about candy collecting strategies.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Buffy checked herself over again making sure it wasn't obvious she was armed. She was pretty sure she could hide a tank under the bottom half of her dress, but the top half didn't' have room for much. Sighing at the lack of options she put on a small silver cross and hid a couple of stakes among the ruffles of her petticoats. Standing up and moving around she found that she actually preferred the way her dress behaved weighed down with the stakes, as the outer layers had much less of a tendency to fly up when she took longer steps.

Satisfied she made sure her hair was tucked under the black wig that came with the dress when she paused and wondered why she was bothering with the wig at all. No one said a lady had to have dark hair and the wig was itchy anyway. Buffy heated up her curling iron and got out a brush and some hair spray glad they still had plenty of time.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Willow looked at herself in the mirror in awe as Joyce zipped up the back of the little black dress she'd promised. "Wow!" Joyce grinned and handed her a matching purse with something in it. Opening the purse Willow turned bright red.

"It's a throat spray for a sore throat, it numbs things a bit and turns your voice deeper for about fifteen minutes a squirt," Joyce promised while carefully feathering Willow's hair. "Damn I need the curling iron, hang on."

As Joyce disappeared out the master bathroom Willow opened the purse and pulled out one of the five little packages that looked like gold coins, but were really foil wrapped novelty condoms with 'reserved for' and a blank space on them. Picking up an eye liner pencil she wrote Xander and turned bright red and quickly stuffed it back in the bag before pulling out the throat spray.

Joyce came back with the already warm curling iron while Willow was reading the ingredients list. "Go ahead and give yourself a shot and then say something," she suggested.

Willow tried the spray, frowning at the numb sensation that developed. "What should I say?" she asked her eyes widening when her normal voice came out a couple of octaves deeper and smooth as silk.

"You are going to have to beat the boys off with a stick," Joyce said, smirking at Willow while she curled the wavy ends of Willow's hair slightly.

"You think Xander will notice?" Willow asked hopefully, her altered voice making it sound like sexual innuendo.

"Trust me, no man can resist the little black dress," Joyce swore, handing Willow a microphone. "Now my little cabaret singer, let's see if we can draw his attention."

"We'll have to pry Dawn off first," Willow chuckled.

"He's been good for her," Joyce said with a smile. "With the divorce and the move, Dawn started becoming really quiet and withdrawn, until Xander showed up."

Willow beamed as she stepped into the hall, enjoying talking about her favorite topic, Xander. "He's just so good with kids."

"Who?" Buffy asked as she stepped out of her room.

"Xander," Willow said, making Buffy take note of her voice.

"Kids are easy to get along with," Buffy shrugged, wanting to ask how Willow had changed her voice from schoolgirl to sex bomb.

"And yet you never babysat the same kids twice," Joyce smirked.

"I'd rather pet starving weasels," Buffy said with a shudder.

"And I seem to recall quite a few rants about kids who just wouldn't listen and I recall you swearing to get your tubes tied."

"And you claim kids are easy?" Willow chuckled.

"Other people's kids are monsters, I'm sure my own will be perfect angels," Buffy said firmly, only to frown as Joyce laughed at her. Buffy pouted.

The three fell silent for a minute when they reached the living room. Xander was sprawled out on the sofa with Dawn lying on top of him. If not for the costumes they were wearing Norman Rockwell could have painted the scene.

"He's going to be such a great father," Willow breathed.

Joyce pulled out a small camera and took a couple of pictures.

"It was only," Buffy glanced at the clock. "Oops, I think we're going to need a ride if we're going to make it in time."

"Willow gave herself a quick spritz with a grin before calling out, "Xander it's time to get up!"

This time Joyce was pretty sure the innuendo was intentional.

Xander's head turned towards the three and Buffy was pretty sure his jaw had dropped and he was staring at Willow. It was a bit hard to tell with the mask in the way.

Dawn yawned and shifted about uncomfortably for a moment before she asked, "What's digging into my stomach?" and reached down.

Joyce winced, thinking she was going to have the talk with Dawn sooner than she expected.

Willow froze with serious conflicting emotions. She was extremely happy that Xander was responding to her, but a bit upset that she may just have shattered Dawn's innocence.

Buffy was just trying hard not to laugh.

"Got it," Dawn said and pulled out a long black flashlight. "Wow this is heavy," she said.

"Five D cells and a steel case," Xander explained. "Commonly used for safety and self-defense."

"Can I steal it?" Dawn begged.

"Considering I got it for you, I'm not sure that's possible."

Dawn squealed and hugged him before they got up.

"Let's go, the candy awaits!" Dawn announced and hurried out to the car.

Xander turned to the others and you could almost see his grin through the mask. Taking out another flashlight he'd had in a loop on his side covered by his trench coat he tapped his groin with a dull clank.

Willow blushed as Xander walked out the door whistling cheerfully.

"What did he say?" Buffy asked, figuring Willow would know.

"We have dirty minds and he really likes how I look," Willow said proudly before slipping out the door.

"They're practically telepathic with each other," Buffy explained at Joyce's confused look. "The only thing he can't seem to get is that she likes him."

"Low self-esteem," Joyce said thoughtfully. "Since he doesn't think of himself as attractive he can't see any girl liking him. Some girl probably destroyed his self-esteem."

Buffy winced.

"You didn't!"

"I didn't mean to, but Willow is my best friend so I had to put my foot down," Buffy said not wanting to explain the complicated relationship of the Scoobs, especially considering it'd bring up a number of subjects that got her sedated and committed the year before.

Joyce sighed. "Well I can't fault you for loyalty, since if he was legal and Willow was my best friend she'd be S.O.L."

"Mom!"

"If you can't see his many good qualities it may be time to get you glasses," Joyce said. "But that aside, you know you can't get rid of a guy by simply saying no and grabbing the nearest warm body as cover, you say yes and then give them a date that they hate, it's why opera and ballet were invented."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "How can a woman who runs an art gallery hate culture?"

"I don't hate culture, but taking girls and making them look like twelve year old boys and wear next to nothing while bending in the most extreme ways isn't art, it's pedophilia on display and fat people yodeling in foreign languages isn't my idea of art either."

"Well Xander would find a way to make anything we do fun and even if he couldn't he would enjoy it because the person he was with was enjoying it. He's too giving to be driven away that way. He's the kind of guy who makes a commitment and sticks to it. I'd have to show myself to be scum who goes around kicking puppies for fun to change his mind," Buffy growled in frustration.

Joyce smirked. "Someone has a crush."

"I do not! I just know what kind of guy he is and that's Willow's," Buffy said firmly.

"If he really has all those good qualities…" Joyce said thoughtfully, "when does he turn 18?"

"Mother!?"

"I'm just curious," Joyce teased with a too innocent to be true expression. Joyce laughed as she waved Buffy out the door. Teens were just so easy to tease; everything was 'end of the world' with them.

**Typing by: Last Primarch!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Faces and Facets**

**Chapter 3**

The dozen children stared up at Xander a little fearfully, as his costume wasn't exactly designed to inspire trust.

He knelt down so he was at their level and pulled up his mask so they could see his face. "Gather around and I'll tell you how to get the most candy you've ever gotten as trick or treaters."

The children quickly piled in front of him, eager to hear the wisdom of the master.

"Who here wants to be a candy ninja, a ninja dedicated to getting as much candy as they can?" he asked and grinned at the response.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

"And don't you go corrupting them by speaking to them either missy!" Snyder warned Buffy before starting to turn away and then turning back when she opened her mouth to speak to them. "Ahh!"

Buffy rolled her eyes as the children giggled at the troll's activities.

"Oh dear lord, I left Harris unsupervised!" Snyder burst out, before hurrying off.

Willow smirked before she purred throatily, "Too late!"

Buffy smirked at how different Willow was acting, mentally taking credit for Willow being bolder, although she would admit Xander's outfit probably helped. "What's too late, Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Xander has had over five minutes alone with those kids. That means they probably not only know the best ways to get candy, they also have some sort of group theme."

"You're kidding?" Buffy asked as she watched Snyder berate Xander who cheerfully ignored him while the group of children stood in a loose formation in front of him.

"Nope. Look at how the children are quiet and well behaved. Tell me that's natural! They probably have something planned. Watch!" Willow grinned, unaware that both her and Buffy's group of kids were listening and watching.

Snyder was pacing back and forth while chewing Xander out, who had his mildly surprised 'who me' look on his face. A little girl in a Tinkerbelle outfit waited until Snyder had his back turned and darted out and into his path, getting knocked to the ground and crying loudly. Xander quickly examined the girl and turned on Snyder like he was going to rip him in two, until the little girl tugged on Xander's arm and whispered in his ear. Xander carefully picked the girl up and said something to Snyder that made him retreat with his tail between his legs.

Buffy started to head over but Willow grabbed her hand. "Watch!"

After Snyder was gone, Xander swung the girl around and set her down on her miraculously healed feet. The girl bowed while the group made some sort of handsign and tapped their right feet as applause.

"What the hell was that?!" Buffy asked shocked.

"That was Xander turning a group of children into a cohesive unit. If that little Tinkerbelle had actually been hurt, Xander would have kneecapped Snyder. She had to tell Xander it was an act."

"How did he know he'd need them to pull that to tell them what to do when she had to tell Xander it was fake?" Buffy said and then paused. "Did that make any sense?"

Willow giggled. "Xander didn't tell them to do it, he simply told them the best way to manipulate and cover for your friends, the rest they did on their own." While Buffy and Willow talked a couple of their kids excused themselves to check on their sibling in different groups. Neither Buffy nor Willow noticed these kids head for Xander's group or their excited return a couple of minutes later.

There was a loud whistle form one of the school teachers as she got everyone's attention. "Two hours people! It's five now, so I expect to see you all back here with your kids by no later than seven! Now everyone have fun out there!"

Buffy and Willow turned towards their groups only to find they'd become one big group. A boy dressed as the hulk handed Buffy a piece of paper and rejoined the group.

Buffy looked at the paper and grinned. "Cool, we've got a new route with houses to avoid listed and we're combining groups. This should be fun!"

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

A wave of dizziness swept over Xander and he went to one knee, dropping the bright orange plastic pumpkin pail he'd brought along, filled with things like band aids and glow sticks to distract the kids and bandage any little bumps they might get.

Rorschach rose to his feet, shaking off any lingering dizziness as he took stock of his situation.

A small winged girl picked up the softly glowing pumpkin and checked out the assorted monsters around her, each of them making a handsign and receiving a countersign in return.

Rorschach absently made a sign at the little girl who bowed and sent the signal to the group. Their kage would be busy; she was to lead the mission herself.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Lady Maria Lavitte rubbed her head and cursed in French before blushing and reminding herself that a lady doesn't curse like a dockworker, which apparently, the nearly naked redhead next to her had never been taught, because the length and strength of her invective was most impressive.

"When I find out who slipped me a mickey I'm going to knock them into next week," Willow swore.

"Pardon moi," Maria excused herself politely, as despite her confusion and the slayer spirit she was a lady.

Willow turned and looked at Buffy in surprise as she took in the chaos in the streets. "This? But this all happened years ago!"

Maria had been told many prophecies in her career as a slayer, so someone seeing their future or the past wasn't new to her. "What all happened?"

Willow looked Maria over closely and said, "Well for one thing it was different. You dressed as Lady Useless. You went from being the slayer to being a normal girl from the 1700's who thought cars were demons."

"What are cars?" Maria asked, but before Willow could answer she replied, "And I am a lady, but I am hardly useless."

Willow smiled at the annoyance in her friend's tone. "Cars are horseless carriages and this is the twentieth century. You are my friend Buffy and we went through this exact situation before, it's like time has looped, but there are a couple of major differences. Last time for instance, I dressed as a ghost, so I spent the entire night trying to distract monsters from attacking you, since you thought you were a spoiled noble from centuries past and I couldn't touch anything."

"So I am not the slayer, Lady Maria Lavitte?" she asked doubtfully.

"You are the slayer Buffy Summers," Willow said seriously. "Look around you, back in whatever year you come from none of this existed. Of course it's entirely possible that you are the slayer Maria and you are possessing my friend until the spell breaks, in which case… well that changes little really. Fortunately you are still the slayer so we can fix all this quickly. A chaos mage named Ethan Rayne turned everyone into their Halloween costumes. If we break the statue everything returns to normal. If we break one of his legs we can also prevent him from running."

Maria opened her mouth to respond, but was distracted by a small winged girl carrying a flaming pumpkin appearing from the shadows and speaking to a small boy who was popping metal claws in and out of his hands. "You are called. Are you ready? You must put away fear like an old toy. Our lives are not easy ones and for all the powers we are granted, so too are we granted responsibilities. Only one whose heart is pure can walk our path."

The boy pulled an unlit stoogie from his mouth and locked eyes with her before he lit it from the jack o lantern's flame. Reaching in with his right hand he pulled out a black ring, his eyes never leaving hers.

She smiled at him. "You are worthy."

"I coulda told you that, darlin'," the little boy responded before taking a puff of his cigar and blowing out a cloud of smoke that obscured him from sight. When the cloud cleared they were gone.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "I think we should take care of this mage quickly."

"Agreed," Willow said numbly.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Rorschach paused with his foot about an inch from the nose of a demon who was holding a white bag filled with candy. "Where did you get that?"

The blue skinned, four armed being swallowed heavily before replying, "I knock on doors and people give me candy. It happens every year!"

Rorschach lowered his foot to the ground and tipped his hat. "Sorry, I thought you were something else."

"Err, ok," the demon said. "So I can go back to trick or treating?"

"Sure, knock yourself out."

Rorschach continued down the street, passing a pissed of Cordelia Chase. "I'm never getting my deposit back from Party Town and where did all the midget ninjas come from anyway?' she ranted kicking a furry man-thing who was tied up with enough rope to keep three things his size secured.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Illyana Rasputin looked around at the chaos and confusion and wondered where she was and what was going on. Usually she was pretty good at figuring out time and place but this felt like pure chaos! Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor she used a light disk to teleport back to the X-mansion, missing the look of shock on the face of Joyce Summers as she watched her baby vanish.

**Typing by : The Last Primarch!**


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